Forum:Categorization
Brilliand 08:09, 24 April 2007 (UTC) If we intend to continue to include fantasy, we should include a very prominent category for that. Category:Project Authlanis serves that purpose now, but hopefully it won't for long. *Civilization Class: I wish this were trivial to implement, but I've left a bit of backwards compatibility that will make it take a bit of work. I'll get that fixed. This is basically the same as tech level. *Magic: To keep this from being strictly a "meta" category, we could set up a magic-level-categorization and give it to some species. We could also have a single prominent "Fantasy" category that lets visitors see the fantasy worlds without having to see the sci-fi explanations. I may be able to set this up as an option that users can set permanently for themselves. I think that using both of these would be good, one for degrees of magic and one for primarily fantasy settings. *Species Type: This should be for the individual species, rather than the world. Species should also get a degree-of-magic rating. **Silicon-based **Humanoid (Antheonoid in-character) **Hive Intelligence **Cybernetic *Government: Standardizing the governments would be good, but I don't think this need be a very prominent category. Still, a good categorization system can make room for everything - put the most important stuff in the category text, and everything in the category proper. --Brilliand 04:58, 21 April 2007 (UTC) Update: I've set up the Planetclass template, which will make turning planet classifications into categories very easy. Likewise, the Civclass template is clean, so I can turn the civilization types into categories at a moment's notice. To do: *Government type template *Species summary template I will require a bit more study before making those templates. I don't understand the subjects well enough to reduce them to code. I don't think I should try to set up the fantasy category before we have Project Authlanis cleaned up. Perhaps we should get the Semantic Wiki extension for Basilicus? That extension allows sorting articles by bits of data without using categories. We can get the same work done without it, but only with more effort. --Brilliand 08:09, 24 April 2007 (UTC) Laveaux 14:57, 24 April 2007 (UTC) The planet classification code looks great! As I mentioned in the Loese Talk, we may need to adjust the system a bit to account for gas giants or cold planets. I think civ class is enough to determine "fantasy versus sci-fi". Type E's and D's are clearly isolated from interstellar civilization and will have lower technology levels. Even modern humans are Type C (I suppose, if you count the moon). So really, we just need to steer fantasy-oriented users to those civ types and also include those that are thick with magic or theology. Fantasy-oriented users may even be interested in a sci-fi magic species like the Highlods although they are technically sci-fi. Such a thin line between different subgenres of speculative fiction when you think about it. --Laveaux 14:57, 24 April 2007 (UTC) Brilliand 00:54, 27 April 2007 (UTC) No, there is a very real difference in the way fantasy and sci-fi are written. Low civ classes may be fantasy settings, or they may simply be primitive. Likewise, high civilization classes may be high-tech, or they may be high-magic - for example, wizards that teleport across the universe. Explaining such things scientifically will require a very heavy use of the wormhole, since that may well be the only unobtrusive faster-than-light transportation. It will be a long time before I get the Antheon tech set up, but a snippet of my idea is that I intend for the entire galaxy to be permeated with tiny wormholes that open and close based on signals from a control center in Negatron's brain. That would allow him to do just about anything, and basically shove the laws of physics aside. Cold planets are labeled by "distant." The word Arid actually means Dry rather than Hot (possibly a caustic atmosphere, rather than high temperatures). Real-world Pluto would be a , if it counted as a planet. Gas giants have little or no surface, so they need the option "aero" in addition to "terra" and "hydro." That brings up another question - in a term such as "hydroarid," should the "o" or the "a" drop out? * }| }}} *Ecohydrarid *Ecohydrorid Laveaux 01:35, 27 April 2007 (UTC) It's hard for me to see past my science-fiction colored glasses. I now see your point on the two genres. Perhaps we need to do something similar to what Sembeida did with Rifts and create a hybrid. Include magic in addition to science to the everyday workings of the galaxy. This would allow for cross-genre or simply to focus on one genre over the other. I secretly intended to go this way when developing the Highlords anyway. Magic can simply be an aspect of Reality that known science cannot explain - this also gives you more freedom with the Antheons and me more freedom with non-technological space travel (a component of the Highlords). With regards to planet class, the second vowel wins: hyrdo + arid = hydrarid. I think aero is a perfect term for the Jupiters and Saturns of the universe. --Laveaux 01:35, 27 April 2007 (UTC)